Music > Live Reviews

Jeru the Damaja @ NAC

01/12/15

The crowd tonight is split between sedate 40-somethings old school hip hop heads and the new generation of excited young 20-somethings, well up for a party. It's a Monday night so things start off very quietly, the Arts Centre not feeling in any way busy until about 9.30. 

Norwich's eight piece hip hop collective plus DJ Music Lessons (very difficult to search for online!) come on 15 minutes late, no doubt after trying to corral all their members, and they fill the stage, pacing about, pints in hand. Swapping the two mics between them throughout their unusually long support set (I made it about 40 minutes), their entertainment value comes from their enthusiasm and sheer joy at being on stage together. Musically there are some strong beats, although the tunes are not always there, and some MC's stand out more than others. It seems a shame that there's not more variety between all the individual voices..none of them seem to have a speciality as such. Stand out tracks include My Ex's and Stress On The Brain, both of which are particularly great because the lyrics are clear and there is a memorable tune. It's nice to see a crew of guys having fun, and grabbing the opportunity to perform live. UK hip hop's going from strength to strength and I don't doubt that Music Lessons' determination will take them far.

Obongjayar, who according to his Facebook and Soundcloud sites spends time living in both Norwich and London is up next. I'd checked him out online ahead of time and was looking forward to his thoughtful take on hip hop. Again coming on late, with a backdrop of birds swirling in a dark sky, Obongjayar tries to get the sparsely populated crowd to join in and to react to his performance but unfortunately his extremely low key set doesn't light the fire under our feet. He seems a bit more concerned with writhing about on stage, but really we just wanted to get into the music and feel a bit more upbeat. I'd give him another chance, but maybe only one more.

Jeru the Damaja, legendary Brooklyn hip hop artist who's been in the game for well over 20 years, most famous for intelligent and independent thoughts and music is due to take to the stage at 10pm. We're still waiting at 10:30. It's a school night, and we're getting pretty tired. The man himself was outside the Arts Centre earlier in the evening, hanging with fans, taking photos and generally being personable. He eventually turns up on stage, glass of something in hand, and it's clear he's in an affable mood. There's a lot of pretty drunk young 'uns up the front who are more than ready to get going. It's always nice to go to a gig when the artist chats to the audience and builds the rapport between us. But tonight, sadly, Jeru's attitude stinks. He makes inappropriate, misogynistic comments to women in the crowd about their bodies, he's homophobic, he's generally offensive. The crowd react with  a second of shocked silence every time but then seem to accept it, or forget it, and carry on having a good time, but I can't seem to get over it. It breaks my heart that this guy that I've been listening to for so many years, that I was so excited to catch live, is being so awful. He even says on some occasions "Oh I'm just joking". It's not OK though to say "Your boyfriend's probably a fag anyway". Maybe in other places it would be, but not here in Norwich. Musically, it's...OK. Local DJ and hip hop artist in his own right Chrome is helping Jeru out on the decks tonight and does a very professional and confident job. Jeru repeatedly does that irritating trick of teasing a track by playing the first couple notes, then talks for a bit, then does the first verse and, if we're lucky, one chorus. We get a couple verses of Da Bichez, one verse of Ain't The Devil Happy, and most of his best known track Come Clean, as well as tracks from most of his albums. Some are played in full, but it feels like he's pretty bored of rapping altogether, and is really here just to drink and pull. That's pretty much all he talks about anyway, I wanted him to be proud of his skills, to be professional, to have developed a tight and exciting show that would remind us of what an important guy he is in hip hop history and to then go on to check some of his new music, but unfortunately tonight he's put me right off. At one point he claims that his set tonight is no doubt the best hip hop show Norwich has ever seen. Bearing in mind I've seen, amongst many others, Pharoahe Monche, Ugly Duckling, Blackalicious, Talib Kweli, The Pharcyde, DJ Cash Money, Afrika Bambaataa, Jungle Brothers, Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy, Large Professor, Ultramagnetic MC's and Ice T in Norwich, tonight, very sadly, doesn't come anywhere close. I wish that Jeru had given us the show I felt we deserved, an evening full of top class music to challenge and thrill us, and a professional as well as fun attitude from the man himself. I'm very disappointed and really sorry to say I feel he let himself and us down last night.